


Cloak and Dagger

by MirrorMystic



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 16:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MirrorMystic/pseuds/MirrorMystic
Summary: Bright Moon has an intruder. She’s armed. She’s dangerous. And her demands… aren’t what you’d think.





	Cloak and Dagger

**Author's Note:**

> I was musing, on Twitter, about giving Catra a new outfit: one that says she's on Adora's side, if not the Rebellion's, but that she's still her own person. And, for maximum contrast with She-Ra's cape and Sword, I figured: give her a coat, and give her a spear. 
> 
> It's sometime after the season finale, in a world where leaving the Horde doesn't mean joining the Rebellion. I hope you all enjoy the read. ^^

~*~ _  
_ _  
_ “Catra,” Adora said, blinking the sleep from her eyes, “did you really sneak into Bright Moon palace and climb into my window… just to tell me you got some new clothes?”  
  
“What’s your point?” Catra grinned, her mismatched eyes gleaming in the dark, as she stood just shy of the rectangle of moonlight falling across Adora’s floor. “C’mon, get up. Tell me how good I look.”  
  
“Alright, well, gimme a minute…”  
  
Catra obligingly glanced away and resisted the temptation to peek as Adora sat up and her blanket slipped from her shoulders. She lost that battle, eventually, catching the barest glimpse of Adora’s toned abs disappearing under the first T-shirt Adora could find.  
  
“Hang on,” Adora said, yawning. “Lemme hit the lights…”  
  
“So how do they do it, here in Princess country?” Catra teased, waggling her fingers. “Do you just do some magic shit and go ‘let there be light’, or--”  
  
Adora snapped her fingers. The lights came on--  
  
\--and Adora’s breath caught in her chest.  
  
Catra was never the model Horde Cadet, least of all in terms of dress code, but now, she’d left them behind entirely. Her old outfit had the Horde insignia either torn off or scratched out, and she’d made a pair of rather striking additions. The first, and most obvious, was her coat-- a long, dark, ankle-length duster worn open over her old attire. The second was a white bandana, tied like a kerchief around her throat-- a bloom of white over her heart, surrounded by Horde red and black.  
  
Catra had yelped when the lights came on and took a second to glare disdainfully up at the ceiling. But then she noticed Adora staring, just in time to put her hand on her hip and flash Adora a daring smile.  
  
“...Well, Princess?” Catra grinned. “How do I look?”  
  
The first thought that came to Adora’s mind was that with the bandana around her throat and her open coat, Catra almost reminded her of Sea Hawk, but she didn’t think Catra would take that as a compliment. The second thought that came to mind was _‘absolutely stunning’_ , and Catra would never let her live it down if she’d blurted _that_ out.  
  
“Well,” Adora said, settling for Plan C, “it’s definitely not the _worst_ disguise I’ve ever seen.”  
  
Catra rolled her eyes with the utmost fondness. “What _ever_ , Adora. What kind of disguises have _you_ been wearing?”  
  
“Capes… curtains…” Adora grinned, crossing her arms. “...Listen, Catra, it’s a hell of a look. There’s just one thing wrong with it, I think.”  
  
Catra blinked. “Huh? What?”  
  
Adora walked up, Catra trying to focus on her eyes and not her sleepwear. Adora reached up, and, for one panicked second, Catra thought Adora might be about to touch her ears. Instead, Adora’s fingers came to rest on the molded red plasteel framing her face, and gently lifted it away.  
  
Catra’s cheeks were warm. Her ears twitched. “H-Hey. What’s wrong with my headband…?”  
  
“Horde insignia,” Adora shrugged.  
  
“Oh. Right.”  
  
“That, and…” Adora smiled slyly. “...it hides too much of your pretty face.”  
  
Catra’s eyes practically rolled out of her skull. “Kiss-up…”  
  
“Kiss _this_ ,” Adora grinned.  
  
Their lips met before Catra could say something like ‘don’t tell me what to do’. Adora tossed Catra’s headband aside and cupped Catra’s cheeks, Catra’s arm curling around the small of her back and pulling her close. They parted with a sigh, their foreheads touching, Catra’s hand trailing down Adora’s shoulder blades, tracing scars from what felt like a lifetime ago.  
  
Adora shivered, and Catra blew out a troubled sigh. Catra stepped back, reaching into her coat.  
  
“Hey,” Catra murmured. “ _This_ is new, too.”  
  
A blade flashed in her hand. Adora grit her teeth, fighting the urge to reach for the Sword-- Catra would never hurt her. Not anymore.  
  
“Check it out,” Catra said, her smile faltering when she saw Adora’s fingers twitch. She spun her dagger in her hand. “Nice, huh?”  
  
“You sure know how to accessorize…” Adora smiled. She reached behind her and plucked the Sword from its resting place at the foot of her bed, a playful glint in her eyes. “...Although, I hate to break it to you, but uh. Mine’s bigger.”  
  
Catra barked out a laugh. “Yeah? Can yours do _this_ ?”  
  
Catra clicked a stud and a telescoping haft burst out of her dagger’s hilt. She broke away and spun with a flourish, planting the pole in the ground and striking a pose.  
  
Adora laughed. “Catra, what do _you_ need with a spear?”  
  
“I’ve been doing a lot more walking than usual. Thought I could use a walking stick.” Catra shrugged, her expression growing wistful. “...And… I’ve been trying not to use my claws. Ever since… y’know.”  
  
Adora did know. And she had the scars, spreading like wings down her back, to make sure she’d never forget.  
  
Adora smiled sadly. “Catra…”  
  
“Hey, hey, don’t get pouty on me,” Catra urged, moving on. “Besides!”  
  
Catra planted her spear haft on the floor, vaulting across the room and landing in a crouch on the windowsill.  
  
“Now I get to do shit like _this_ !”  
  
Catra jumped.  
  
“Catra!” Adora cried out, before grabbing the Sword and leaping after her.  
  
Catra somersaulted backwards off the wall of Bright Moon palace, her coat flying around her like wings. She coiled her body through the air with expert grace, landing in the canopy of the woods below. The woods shone at her touch, gleaming with a light she’d once thought would never shine again after the battle of Bright Moon ravaged the woods. She pushed off of bioluminescent branches, gradually bleeding momentum with every step, and she stuck the landing on the forest floor with perfect timing.  
  
“Ha!” Catra crowed. “I always land on my fe--”  
  
Catra squealed as Adora crashed through the canopy with rather less skill and hurled Catra off her feet. They rolled through the grass, like two lovers tumbling, until they slid to a stop at the base of a tree and Catra bonked her head on an exposed root.  
  
“Ow!” Catra snapped, shoving Adora off of her. “Adora!”  
  
Adora hit the ground, face-down, and didn’t move.  
  
Catra felt her heart stop.  
  
“Adora? Hey, Adora!” Catra hissed, urgent, her voice trembling with worry. She grabbed Adora’s shoulder and rolled her over onto her back.  
  
Adora smiled up at her, dazed.  
  
“Parkour,” she mumbled.  
  
Catra shoved her, and Adora shoved her back, and then suddenly they were rolling through the grass again, the two of them snorting with laughter. When they eventually settled down, Adora was sprawled across the grass, her hair splayed like a halo around her face, and Catra was laying in the crook of her arm, an arm curled around Adora’s waist like a gentleman thief.  
  
Adora looked up and met Catra’s eyes. She leaned in and gave Catra a peck on the nose, Catra leaning into her and purring all the while.  
  
“I can’t believe you came all this way just to show off your new outfit,” Adora teased.  
  
“I definitely didn’t come just to see you,” Catra said knowingly. “It’s not like I like you or anything.”  
  
Adora took a deep breath and sighed, content. She nodded towards Bright Moon palace.  
  
“...There’s a place at that table for you, too, y’know,” Adora said gently. “The war’s far from over. We could use someone like you.”  
  
Catra’s lips curled into a frown, and she glanced away. Adora caught her by the chin and turned her back to meet her eyes.  
  
“And not just as a sidekick, either,” Adora said. Catra’s expression softened.  
  
“...I’m no Princess,” Catra shrugged. “I’m not like you.”  
  
“You don’t have to be like me. You just have to be like you.”  
  
Catra sniffed, her smile turning rueful. “What, did you rehearse that?”  
  
“I’m serious, Catra,” Adora said. “Think about it: Catra, covert operative. You already look the part! You’d make a great spy. My girl on the inside.”  
  
Catra smirked. “ _Your_ girl?”  
  
“Shut up. You know what I mean.”  
  
Catra chuckled, and lay back. Above them, the Sword and Catra’s spear had both, somehow, landed tip-down in the dirt, their hilts crossed. If there was a magic at work here in ‘Princess country’, it certainly had a flair for the dramatic.  
  
“...I dunno, Adora,” Catra said, with a languid smile. “I kinda like the whole ‘lone wolf’ thing I’ve got going on right now.”  
  
“But you’re a cat,” Adora said, without a trace of irony.  
  
“Shut up,” Catra rolled her eyes. “I hate you…”  
  
They kissed, and twined together in the dark. It occurred to them both that in Catra’s new getup, she was essentially a charming rogue who’d stolen a princess from her bedroom. They snickered, laughing freer than they ever had as children, and pressed their foreheads together.  
  
“Tell you what,” Catra murmured, gazing into Adora’s eyes. “I’ll think about it.”  
  
“Promise?”  
  
“Promise.”  
  
Adora reached up, tracing the curve of Catra’s jaw down to the bandana around her throat-- a lone bloom of light surrounded by Horde red and black. Like a double agent, surrounded on all sides. A lifeline. A promise.  
  
Catra crossed the distance between them and sealed it with a kiss.  
  
~*~


End file.
